Sound interceptors for stereophonic perception



June 30, 1964 M. WElL 3,139,150

SOUND INTERCEPTORS FOR STEREOPHONIC PERCEPTION Filed Sept. 18, 1962INVENTOR MA X/M/L IAN WE/L ATTORNE V5 United States Patent SOUNDINTERCEPTORS FOR STEREOPHONIC PERCEPTION Maximilian Wei], 5% 5th Ave.,New York, N.Y. Filed Sept. 18, 1962, Ser. No. 224,346 Claims. (Cl.181-25) This invention relates to the art of audio signal perception,more particularly to a listening aid permitting the listener to enjoy atrue stereophonic eifect in listening to sounds, emanating from two ormore sources.

As conducive to an understanding of the invention,

it is noted that a variety of techniques have been evolved forreproducing sounds stereophonically in an attempt to simulate for thelistener the effects of live sound, creating for the listener theimpression of the actual presence of the sound producer. Thus, theultimate goal, for example, in the case of music reproduction is toprovide the listener with a reproduced sound which closely simulates thesound obtained in the actual presence of the orchestra or concertartist. Since the listener in a concert hall is subjected to soundsemanating from various parts of the stage or reverberating from variousparts of the concert hall there is a spatial effect produced which,coupled with the visual effect, has heretofore been relativelyunreproducible in a home. Directionality of the sound has been employed,in an attempt to achieve the desired spatial perspective, by reproducingsome of the sounds through a speaker placed to the left of the room,while other sounds are reproduced through another speaker to the rightof the room. A ping pong effect often results, however, causing thelistener to turn his head back and forth from left to right withresulting discomfort and irritation. Musically, the sounds arefrequently disjointed and in general distorted. To obviate this,blending of the left and right sounds has been attempted in the idealstereophonic installation. However, even where the listener ispositioned at some central point with respect to the speakers, the soundappears to emanate from some point between the speakers as it does withmonophonic reproduction. This results in constriction of the sound to asingle point source which, though stereophonic in origin, is oftenrelatively indistinguishable from simple monophonic reproduction.

Attempts to superimpose synthetic reverberation to provide the spatialfullness obtained in the actual presence of the orchestra or concertartist, produce ballooning of all of the sound even though only part ofthe composition is eifective in producing spatial effect at the actualconcert. Thus, such synthetic reverberation has the effect of destroyingthe definition and clarity of the component parts of the musical sound.

The present method of listening to reproduced stereophonic music lacksmeans providing the depth and perspective counterpart of the stereoviewer. The music from the speakers is radiated into the roomhaphazardly which often results in distortion, and a failure to developthe much desired spatial effect, analogous to perspective and depth instereo viewing.

It is accordingly among the important objects of this invention toprovide means, including both method and apparatus enabling a listenerto perceive stereophonically reproduced sound in a fashion providing thenecessary spatial effect so as to give the impression of presence of theactual sound producing source.

Another object of the invention is to provide sound perceiving meansproviding the listener with the dimensional effects of the soundpermeating the full width of the room.

A further object of the invention is to provide the listener with thedynamics which are normally compressed during original recording ofsound reproducing records.

It is also an object of the invention to provide listening meansrecreating the tonal swells regarded as essential in listening to goodmusic.

It is also an object of the invention to provide listening meansinsuring the presence of the higher frequencies which are normally lostbecause of off-beam listening in stereophonic installations.

Another object of the invention is to provide listening means permittingthe amplifiers and speakers of the sound reproducing equipment to workat lower levels thus reducing hum and other background noises.

According to the invention, the novel sound perceiving listening meansinvolves the utilization of sound inter ceptors which will beunderstood, as hereinafter described, to comprise a shell-like memberadapted to be positioned over the ears of the listener. The shell-likemember is provided with an apertured sound receiving front wall, a soundwave guide surface formed on the interior of a side wall, and pressurerelief and vent openings in top and bottom walls to promote comfort onthe part of the wearer. In use these interceptors are positioned on thehead of the wearer and are adjustably mounted to permit desired anglingof the interceptors with respect to the sound sources.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the novelinterceptors serve to pick up more of the sound from the left and rightsides respectively, while at the same time permitting the point sourceperception from the center, thus enriching the heard sound.

Another important feature of the invention resides in the fact that theconcentration of sound at the ears of the listener permits the volume ofthe sound source to be reduced, thus reducing noise levels to improvefidelity.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown a preferred embodiment ofthe several features of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view looking down on the head of a wearer showingschematically how the interceptors function with respect to two spacedsound sources,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an interceptor showing the sound waveguide surface from the exterior thereof,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the interceptor of FIG. 2 showing theinterior part thereof,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on line 44of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional View taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

Referring now to the drawings, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the novelinterceptor 10 with a shell-like configuration comprises a five sidedcasing, or shell broadly speaking, having a configuration like that ofan open sided box. The outside wall 11 is preferably formed as thesegment of a right circular cylinder having a radius of curvatureillustratively 4 /2 inches.

Front wall 12 is provided with a honeycomb of sound entry apertures 13which prevent cavity resonance within the usual musical frequencies. Acushioning pad 13 of foam rubber or the like padding material isprovided on the edge of the front Wall 12 remote from side Wall 11 asviewed in FIG. 2.

Top and bottom walls 15 and 16 respectively are sub stantially identicalin configuration and are joined to side wall 11 and front Wall 12 asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In order to insure free air flow about the earof the wearer, a vent cutout 17 is formed in each of top and bottomwalls 15 and 16. In order to prevent reverberation of any sound wavesencompassed within the interceptor 10, a

plurality of reverberation preventing pressure release aper-' tures 18are formed adjacent the rear end of top and bottom walls and 16. Rearwall closes off the structure as best shown in FIG. 3.

Securement of the novel interceptor it} to the head i of the wearer ispreferably accomplished by means of spring steel strap contoured asshown in FIG. 2 resiliently to engage and extend over the top of thehead of the wearer and bowed at its end 26. A strap engaging sleeve 27is flexibly secured to the outer surface of side wall 11 by "means of acushioning block 28 formed of rubber or some synthetic having similarproperties so that when strap'25 is inserted within sleeve 27, movement7 of the strap with respect to the interceptor will not prop theposition of the unit on the head.

In order to provide for adjustment of the interceptor with respect tothe head of the wearer, adjusting pin 39 the head of the wearer.

In use of the above describednovel interceptor, desired spatial effectsare provided for the listener attempting to hearstereophonically playedback sounds, by the listener donning the interceptors, one over eachear. The interceptors it), as shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, are so arrangedthat rear wall 20 of interceptor 10 contacts the head of the wearer at apoint behind the ear with which the interceptor is associated. In otherwords, the right hand interceptor will be positioned so that the rearwall 20 engages behind the right ear while the left hand interceptorengages behind the left ear.

The top and bottom walls 15, 16 extend above the top andbottomrespectively of the ear of the listener.

The listener in the presence of stereophonically reproduced soundemanating from two separate sources Sll and 52, as shown in FIG. 1,hears the sound from the right hand speaker S2 with ;his right car whichpicks up more of the sound from the right hand speaker than would benormally the case in the absence of the interceptor while conversely,the sound emanating from the left hand speaker S1 is channeled into theleft ear of the listener.

At the same time that the listener is perceiving the sounds from hisright and left sides respectively, he also hears sound from the usualpoint source midway between the speakers. Utilizing the interceptorsprovides results such that, in addition to the point source effect,there is direct perception, from the right and left hand side, with thedesired spatial effect.

By virtue of the fact that the sounds emanating from the laterallyspaced speakers are directly channeled to the ears of the listener, itis found possible to reduce the necessary volume to provide desiredlistening effects and the listener is also provided with the feelingthat sound emanates from the width of the sound sources whetherstereophonic or monophonic, in which latter case at least two speakersare used.

itis thus seen that by utilization of the novel interceptors 10, aspatial effect is provided for the listener in which the'increase insound'over the normal perception available from each of the right andleft hand speakers respectively, coupled with the normal point sourceper-.

ception provides a fully developed spatial effect permeating the fullwidth of the room.

reproduction or monophonic reproduction in which latter' case at leasttwo speakers are used. I 7

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patents of the United States is: Y

1. Apparatus for intercepting sound waves for providing desired spatialeffects in audio signal perception of sounds from a plurality of spacedsound sources, said means comprising sound intercepting means increasingthe flowof sound from a right hand sound source to the right ear of thelistener, sound intercepting means increasing the sound flow from. aleft hand soundsource to the left ear of the listener, saidaforementioned sound intercepting means acting in concert with normalsound perception of the listener, whereby a depth perspective effectwill be provided, each of said sound intercepting means being adapted tobe positioned over an associated ear of the listener and comprising ashell-like casing having an outside wall, a front wall atone end, topand bottom walls and a rear wall, said front wall having'a honeycomb ofsound entry apertures which deliver the collected sound waves directlyinto the ear.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the front wall is ofgreater width than said rear wall, whereby when the casings arepositioned over the earsof the listener with the front walls directedforwardly, the outside walls will be inclined inwardly toward the backof the listeners head, so that each of the casings will be directedoutwardly toward the sound sources.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which said honeycombcomprises a plurality of elongated passageways each having substantiallyparallel walls, substantially venting means is provided in at least oneof the top and bottom walls to relieve the air pressure built up to therear of the front wall, at the ear of the listener, thereby preventingreverberations and distortion.

' 5. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which the front'wall is ofgreater width than said rear wall, whereby when the casings arepositioned over the ears of the listener with the front walls directedforwardly, the outside walls 'will be inclined inwardly toward the backof the listeners head, said front wall having a cushioning pad securedto the edge thereof remote from the outside wall. 6. The combination setforth in claim 1 in which means are provided to mount said interceptercasings on the head of the listener, said means comprising a resilientcurved strap of rigid material, having its ends secured to the outerwalls respectively of said intercepter casings adjacent the rear wall. 7v

7. The combination set forth in claim 6 in which sound vibrationcushioning means is secured to each of said of the listeners head, meansare provided to mount said intercepter casings on the head of thelistener, said means comprising a resilient curved strap of rigidmaterial hav-- ing its ends secured to the outer walls respectivelyofsaid intercepter casings adjacent the rear walls thereof,

the casings with respect to the head of the listener.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8 in which said last named meanscomprises a threaded adjusting pin, said front wall having a'threadedtransverse aperture to receive said adjusting pin, said adjusting pinextending beyond said aperture and mounting an adjusting knob on itsouter end and a cushion pad on its inner end adapted to engage the headof the listener.

10. As an article of manufacture a sound intercepter comprising ashell-like casing having an outside wall, a

rear Wall, venting means provided in at least one of the top and bottomwalls to relieve the air pressure built up a to the rear of the frontwallat the ear of the listener and vibration cushioning means defining amount secured to 5 the outside wall adjacent the rear wall.

front wall at one end, top and bottom walls and a rear wall, said frontwall having a honeycomb of sound entry apertures which deliver thecollected sound direction to the ear, said front wall being of greaterwidth than said 1 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Switzerland Feb. 15,

1. APPARATUS FOR INTERCEPTING SOUND WAVES FOR PROVIDING DESIRED SPATIALEFFECTS IN AUDIO SIGNAL PERCEPTION OF SOUNDS FROM A PLURALITY OF SPACEDSOUND SOURCES, SAID MEANS COMPRISING SOUND INTERCEPTING MEANS INCREASINGTHE FLOW OF SOUND FROM A RIGHT HAND SOUND SOURCE TO THE RIGHT EAR OF THELISTENER, SOUND INTERCEPTING MEANS INCREASING THE SOUND FLOW FROM A LEFTHAND SOUND SOURCE TO THE LEFT EAR OF THE LISTENER, SAID AFOREMENTIONEDSOUND INTERCEPTING MEANS ACTING IN CONCERT WITH NORMAL SOUND PERCEPTIONOF THE LISTENER, WHEREBY A DEPTH PERSPECTIVE